Mary Stroman: Haringey Council criticised in another child protection report after suicide of teenage girl

The council at the centre of the Baby P scandal has been heavily criticised in yet another child protection report following the suicide of a teenage girl.

Haringey Council was condemned for failing to learn from past cases by a serious case review (SCR) into the death of 16-year-old Mary Stroman, who took her own life on a railway line in Wiltshire in January 2014 two days after the inquest had begun into the death of her school friend Tallulah Wilson.

Gifted ballerina Tallulah, 15, was found dead at St Pancras Station after being struck by a train – the same method that Mary used to kill herself while mourning the loss of her friend. Mary had left suicide notes in her bedroom at the Wiltshire care unit where she was being treated and died after she was hit by a train on a nearby railway line

Mary’s inquest last year heard that she had been sexually abused by an older man or men near to where she lived in the borough. The decline in her health had begun after she told friends she had been assaulted and was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after several incidents of self-harming.

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Mary was the youngest of five children of Scott Stroman, a renowned jazz musician, composer and conductor, who is one of the most prominent figures in London’s jazz scene, and his wife Sue, a nurse.

The review, which referred to Mary as ‘Child O’ throughout, is the third SCR published this year alone about children known to the north London council. It identified “very serious weaknesses” across local services stemming from an overall “failure to use safeguarding arrangements and risk assessments effectively”.

The report said: “It is striking that, in the face of such obvious cause for concern, there was never a formal child protection investigation into Child O’s situation. This review has identified serious failings in the services which should have helped Child O and her family.

“The greatest cause for concern is the substantial delay in arranging for her to be cared for away from her family home. There is also substantial evidence that the local authority’s professional input was of a poor standard.”

At the time of Mary’s death, she was a pupil at a residential school in Wiltshire for adolescent girls with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

The latest review said that issues raised by a previous SCR from 2010/11 were also a problem in this latest case. It also said that various agencies have not learned lessons from previous cases of abuse and deaths of children known to Haringey Social Services.

The SCR involved three local authorities in London and one outside London, four local safeguarding children’s board areas, two police forces and 13 NHS organisations as well as the three independent care providers that looked after Mary.

The teenager’s parents welcomed the findings. They said in a statement: “The serious case review speaks for itself, detailing a catalogue of errors, delays, bad practices, poor judgments and missed opportunities in dealing with Mary’s complex case.

“The report clearly highlights these issues and we welcome its directness and honesty. As the review notes, on many occasions Mary said she had been sexually abused, but police failed to respond adequately or investigate the matter.

“Mary suffered more than four years of mental anguish, self-harm and illness, culminating in her tragic death.”

Cllr Liz Morris, Haringey Lib Dem Children’s Spokesperson, blamed the Labour-run Haringey Council’s child protection services for not carrying out a risk assessment “which would have ensured Child O got the most appropriate treatment and that any threats to her wellbeing were dealt with”.

She also said the police “should have acted immediately” after being told of the sexual assault via a letter and must also learn lessons from the review.

Sir Paul Ennals, independent chairman of the Haringey Safeguarding Children Board, said the review had identified episodes where agencies could have responded differently.

“It does not identify a causal link between these episodes and [Mary’s] death in January 2014, which it concludes could not have been anticipated, but some significant issues have been raised for the agencies who had sought to help her.”

Sir Paul said that the agencies involved had “carefully examined” their practice since 2010 and have acted upon areas where they have “identified the need for improvements”.

“We sincerely regret that there were a number of areas where we should have done better,” he said. “We have accepted all the recommendations of the independent review, and have already acted upon many of them.”

Mr and Mrs Stroman said: “Despite all the failures, we blame no-one personally. However, similar failings have been identified in previous serious case reviews in the borough. Our wish is that this time the lessons learned from our experience will make a real difference, supporting families in genuine need and potentially saving lives.”